No abstract

The European Commission launched the Coronavirus Response Investment Initiatives in March 2020, which aimed to help European economic actors, including the fishing sector, to cope with the COVID-19 crisis. This initiative was translated into French law in April 2020, through a decree laying down conditions for obtaining temporary cessation subsidies. Here, we demonstrate that, in stark contradiction with the European Union's international commitments and binding objectives, France allocated this fund in a way that mostly benefited large-scale, high-impact fisheries. In particular, we show that seven companies/groups received 28.5% of all subsidies, for only 53 vessels, i.e. 0.8% of the French fleet. We also show that vessels smaller than 12 m and operating lower impact, 'passive' gears only accounted for 8.7% of subsidies although they account for 74.5% of the French fleet. In contrast, vessels larger than 12 m (and up to 89.4 m) and operating higher impact, 'active' gears captured 70.5% of all subsidies, although they only account for 10.7% of the fleet. These results support the fact that despite celebrated commitments and objectives aiming to support low impact, coastal communities and to rebuild thriving marine ecosystems — including during the COVID-19 crisis — a key fishing state such as France keeps implementing policies that are tailored by and for the most powerful companies and impactful fishing practices.